628 



layers of bituminous slate, which are very nu- 

 merous * in the Alps of South Bavaria, appear- 

 ed to me to characterize the former of these 

 formations; while the dazzling whiteness of 

 the cavernous soil of Caripe, and the form of 

 those steps of rocks rising in walls and cor- 

 nises, brought strongly to my mind the ju- 

 rassic limestone of Streitberg, in Franconia, or 

 of Oitzow, and Krzessowice, in Upper Silesia* 

 There is a suppression in Venezuela of the dif- 

 ferent soils, which, in the antient continent, 

 separate zechstein from jura-limestone. The 

 sandstone of Cocollar, which sometimes covers 

 the limestone of Cumanacoa, may be consider- 

 ed as variegated sandstone ; but it is more pro- 

 bable that in alternating by layers with the 

 limestone of Cumanacoa, it is sometimes re- 

 pulsed to the upper limit of the formation to 

 which it belongs. The zechstein of Europe 

 also contains very quartzous sandstone The 

 two limestone soils of Cumanaco and Caripe 

 succeed each other immediately > like the alpine 

 and jura limestone on the western declivity of 

 the Mexican table-land, between Sopilote, Mes- 

 cala, and Tehuilotepec. These formations per- 

 haps pass from one to the other, so that the 



* I found them also in the Peruvian Andes, near Montau* 

 at 1600 toises high. 



t See my Geogn, Essay, p. 257, 



